Depopulation impacts on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural areas

Bruno, Daniel; Sorando, Ricardo; Álvarez-Farizo, Begoña; Castellano, Clara; Céspedes, Vanessa; Gallardo, Belinda; Jiménez, Juan J.; López, M.V.; López‐Flores, Rocío; Moret‐Fernández, David; Navarro, Enrique; Picazo, Félix; Sevilla-Callejo, Miguel; Tormo, Jaume; Vidal-Macua, Juan José; Nicolau, J. M.; Comı́n, Francisco A.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101369

Cited by 47 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…For example, compared to our study, Xia et al (2021) found that the GFGP project in the Liaohe River basin of China resulted in soil loss of 4.33 × 10 5 -2.94 × 10 5 t/year from 2007 to 2015. In mountainous areas of Spain, the revegetation of Aragón between the mid-20th and early 21st centuries led to a significant increase in water supply (>1,000%) and soil retention (>400%) (Brunoa et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Future Climate and Land Use/Cover Changes on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in Changbai Mountains, Northeast China

Wang

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Sustaining ecosystem services in alpine regions is a pressing global challenge given future accelerating environmental changes. Understanding how future climate change and land use/cover change (LUCC) drive ecosystem service will be important in this challenge. However, few studies have considered the combined effects of future climate change and LUCC on ecosystem services. We assessed water yield and soil retention services and their drivers in the Changbai mountains region (CBMR) from the 2020 to 2050s using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model and factor control experiments. Water yield decreased by 2.80% and soil retention increased by 6.14% over the 30 years. Climate change decreased water yield and increased soil retention, while LUCC decreased both water yield and soil retention. The interactive effects between climate change and LUCC had relatively small inhibitory effects on water yield and large facilitation effects on soil retention. Changes in water yield were mainly attributed to climate change, while soil retention was largely influenced by interaction. Our study highlights the individual and interactive contributions of future climate change and land use to ecosystem service in the mountains region, which can provide important information for informed future land management and policy making for sustaining diverse ecosystem services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Future Climate and Land Use/Cover Changes on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in Changbai Mountains, Northeast China

Wang

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…The results revealed that a deficit in the status the provisioning of ecosystem service supply in the study region is not balanced with the existing ecosystem service demand. The demographic variables in rural areas, such as human population, population density, and number of villages, also threaten multi-functional landscapes and reduce the capacity to deliver ESs [19]. The effect of landscape pattern on ESs has emerged as an appealing research topic because of the exploration on spatial organisation in the landscape, along with associated landscape modifications from rapid and slow land cover changes [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Landscape Pattern into Characterising and Optimising Ecosystem Services for Regional Sustainable Development

Zeng

Liu

et al. 2022

Land

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Humans benefit from ecosystem services (ES) and profoundly influence the ecosystem in rapid urbanisation and large-scale urban sprawl contexts, especially at the landscape level. However, the impacts of landscape pattern, the driving mechanism of sub-ES and the spatially explicit regional optimisation, have been largely ignored. In response, to the present paper explores two primary aspects: the relationship among ES, landscape pattern, urban income and agricultural output, and the regional governance of optimised ES values (ESV), using the Wuhan urban agglomeration as a case study area. The survey method is employed in obtaining the adjusted magnitude matrix of land use and ecosystem services. Spatial regression analyses are conducted on each ES, including food provision, climate regulation and soil maintenance, with socio-economic indicators and landscape pattern index as explanatory variables. Finally, geographically weighted regression and scenario analyses are conducted on each sub-ESV to generate adjusted coefficients in each county for ESV regulation. The results show that urban per capita disposable income and agricultural output significantly contribute to ESV change, with the former being negative and the latter being positive. A highly aggregated landscape also produces reduced ESV, particularly in soil maintenance and gas and climate regulation. We summarise the ESV in 2020 and in the period after adjustment in different administrative counties. Provision, regulation and culture ecosystem benefits substantially increase when attempts are made to lower the landscape aggregation pattern by 1%. In general, counties and county-level cities have the largest ESV, with food provision as the optimum ecosystem benefit. Districts in the capital city show an immense growth in provision and regulation, and county-level cities show the highest growth rate in cultural service. Integrating the landscape pattern into characterising and optimising ES, provides references for regional governance on land-use planning and socio-economic development, which is vital to sustainable regional development.

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“…The loss of rural populations entails a number of important social, economic and environmental changes for territorial sustainability. Among them, the cessation of traditional economic activities linked to the primary sector, ageing, the reduced provision of basic services, ecological succession leading to landscape changes, increased wildfire risk, the loss of cultural practices, or shifts in the provision of ecosystem services are all significant potential changes [1][2][3][4]. Rural depopulation has been affecting communities in developed countries for a long time [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stakeholders' perceptions on conservation initiatives, notably those of the people affected by environmental policies and regulations, allow researchers to delve into the causes and consequences of such initiatives, assess their social acceptance and estimate their success [18,19]. In this study, we used stakeholders' perceptions to refine the findings of the previous country-wide study [17] by: (1) Ascertaining whether PA regulations and/or management may have influenced depopulation in a sample of pairs of protected and unprotected small rural municipalities with the most contrasting depopulation figures in Spain; (2) Determining if other factors may have influenced depopulation trends in those municipalities; (3) Making recommendations to rural development authorities and PA authorities for enhancing the wellbeing of rural communities and reducing or preventing depopulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protected Areas and Rural Depopulation in Spain: A Multi-Stakeholder Perceptual Study

Rodríguez‐Rodríguez

Vargas

2022

Land

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Protected areas (PAs) are thought by some to contribute to local wellbeing and socioeconomic development, whereas for others PAs remain a regulatory burden that hampers rural development. Here, we sought to ascertain the perceived causes of rural depopulation and the potential impact of four Natura 2000 sites on the wellbeing and depopulation figures of four protected rural municipalities in Spain that were selected as extreme case studies. We used phone surveys to elicit experts’ views (n = 19) on the topic and convened eight in-person workshops to garner local residents’ insights (n = 40) using structured questionnaires. We complemented perceived wellbeing data from PAs with surveys to residents in neighbouring unprotected municipalities (n = 28). Both experts and workshops’ attendees from protected municipalities overwhelmingly attributed depopulation figures to structural causes linked to transport accessibility, basic service provision and the existence of job opportunities, which they perceived to be unrelated to the PAs’ regulations or management. Local residents did generally not perceive any impact on their collective or individual wellbeing from those PAs, and most who did, expressed a negative impact chiefly due to socioeconomic restrictions. Four-fifths of the experts and half of the workshops’ attendees from protected municipalities, however, expressed that PAs’ administrations could help improve depopulation figures in their towns mainly through promoting tourism and greater compatibility of land uses, including housing and infrastructure development. While the assessed Natura 2000 sites certainly have scope for tourism promotion, their lenient legal regimes make it largely unfeasible to broaden land use compatibility without damaging protected features.

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Depopulation impacts on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural areas

Cited by 47 publications

References 89 publications

Impacts of Future Climate and Land Use/Cover Changes on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in Changbai Mountains, Northeast China

Impacts of Future Climate and Land Use/Cover Changes on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in Changbai Mountains, Northeast China

Integrating Landscape Pattern into Characterising and Optimising Ecosystem Services for Regional Sustainable Development

Protected Areas and Rural Depopulation in Spain: A Multi-Stakeholder Perceptual Study

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